Brooks & Dunn Bio

Both Brooks (born and raised in Shreveport, Louisiana) and Dunn (born and raised in Coleman, Texas) were sons of pipefitters. As a youth, Brooks was influenced by a variety of regional musical styles ranging from Cajun to blues to jazz to country. He was first inspired towards a musical career by his neighbor, Johnny Horton; a friend of Horton's daughter, he would frequently visit their home and become dazzled by all the gold records on the walls. Brooks made his performing debut at the age of 12, singing with Horton's daughter, and continued performing in clubs and at other venues through high school; he also began writing songs frequently.

After working on the Alaskan pipeline, he moved to Maine, where he performed at ski resorts. Eventually he landed in Nashville, where he joined Don Gant's newly established Tree Publishing company. Shortly afterwards artists like the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, John Conlee, and Highway 101 began finding success with Kix Brooks tunes. In 1983, he launched his own recording career with "Baby, When Your Heart Breaks Down" for Avion. He didn't record again until 1989, when he released his eponymous solo debut.

Ronnie Dunn's journey to Music City was quite different. His father had been a guitarist and sang in a traditional mountain string band as a hobby. While still in high school Dunn learned to play bass. It was his intention to become a Baptist preacher, but he became increasingly infatuated with music, and he spent many evenings performing in honky-tonk bars. Dunn and his family later moved to Tulsa, where he began leading the house band at Duke's Country. This led to a record contract with the independent Churchill label, where he had two moderate hits in 1983 and 1984.

Dunn moved to Nashville via a talent contest. At first, he didn't know he had entered -- his friend Jimmy Oldecker, who was drumming for Eric Clapton at the time, submitted one of Dunn's tapes, unbeknownst to the songwriter. He won the regionals in Tulsa with a hastily assembled band, and went to Nashville's Bullpen Lounge for the finals where he won $30,000 and a recording session with producer Scott Hendricks. The two hit it off and for a while, Dunn continued sending his newest material to Hendricks, who saw that some of it got to Tim DuBois, the head of Arista. Eventually Dunn decided to relocate to Nashville.

Upon his arrival in Nashville, Dunn joined Tree Publishing and met Brooks. The two hit it off and soon began not only writing together, but also performing. DuBois was pleased by the new duo and offered them a recording contract. The two started out with a bang in 1990 when their debut single "Brand New Man" shot up to number one, as did their follow up "My Next Broken Heart." The following year their debut album Brand New Man was released and became an immediate success. Later in 1992, they had yet another number one hit with "Neon Moon," but it was the single's flip-side "Boot Scootin' Boogie" that provided them with their biggest hit to date.

By 1993, their first album had gone triple platinum; that same year, they also released their second album Hard Workin' Man, and their string of hits continued. In 1996, they released their fourth album Borderline and had a major hit with their cover of B.W. Stevenson's old pop hit "My Maria" (one of the few hits they did not write). If You See Her followed in 1998.

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